


moonlight

by halkoya (inkedbunnies)



Category: GOT7
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Wolf AU, slight markjae if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:57:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkedbunnies/pseuds/halkoya
Summary: The first time that Jinyoung encountered a wolf, he had just ended his shift at the convenience store.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is my first work and honestly idk what came over me to start writing this. i obviously am an amateur writer and would love to hear your feedback about this. please help me to improve my writing thank you!!!

The first time that Jinyoung encountered a wolf, he had just ended his shift at the convenience store.

The closing shift was usually breezy, with little to no people in this small neighbourhood at this time.

However, with the recent call to expand the town, the forest surrounding the outskirts of this little town has been pushed to be demolished. Flyers were distributed to forewarn the people of possible small animals emerging over the next few weeks, but not to worry, because pest control is just a phone call away.

Nothing in that obnoxiously colourful flyer mentioned wolves though, especially big ones.

Like the one staring at Jinyoung from across the empty street.

The moment Jinyoung had set eyes on the creature, he had tightened his grip on his phone. _As if this minuscule little thing can help._

Jinyoung prided himself in being well-prepared for any emergency (“Pepper spray. Really, Jinyoung?” “Oh hush Jackson. Perverts can target both women AND men.”) but this, he fell short with his options.

_Maybe I should throw the phone? I can always get a new one, granted if I don’t end up as wolf food. Dog food? Hmm, are wolves essentially dogs? Maybe they are just larger versions of dogs. Must be cute when they try to chase their own tails. Oh wait, do they have tails?_

Jinyoung scanned the wolf before him. He nodded slightly to himself, _yea he has a tail_.

At that thought, he froze in realisation. His eyes darted upwards where he caught the wolf still staring at him. Not daring to move any more than he should, Jinyoung continued to stare into the wolf’s eyes. After a few heartbeats, the wolf pulled its mouth back into a snarl. Jinyoung flinched as he caught sight of the sharp canines in its mouth when it began to howl.

_Oh, right. Sharp teeth. God, I hope whoever clears out my apartment after my death will overlook the dirty dishes._

At the sobering thought of dying, Jinyoung muttered a quick prayer and shut his eyes tight. Any time now, he’ll feel the sharp press of the canines that he was oh so lucky to have seen beforehand. Or maybe he’ll be torn to shreds. He squeezed his eyes a little bit tighter at that thought. _Dear god, please let it be painless._

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats later and Jinyoung is still very much alive, still standing frozen in the empty street.

When he cracked his eye open to see that he was alone, his legs gave way. With shaking hands, he brought it to his chest and felt the crazy thumping of his heart.

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. _What the hell just happened?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi i made some changes to the paragraphing but content remains the same! it was driving me nuts for a while hehe


	2. Chapter 2

“A wolf?”

“Yes, a wolf. Do I need to repeat myself again or did I manage to crack through your dense head?”

“Are you sure you didn’t drink during your shift last night?”

Jinyoung was close to ripping his hair out. He had spent the last ten minutes trying to explain to his soon-to-be ex best friend about his experience last night, but he was only met with an incredulous look - like he had gone crazy overnight. Which he hadn’t.

“For the love of g- No, I didn’t drink! I know what I saw and I saw a wolf!”

“Okay, fine.”

“...fine? That’s all you have to say?”

“Yeap. What else do you want me to say? I hope you bump into the wolf again?” Jackson leaned back on the couch, stretching his arms above his head. As he let out a groan at a particularly satisfying crack, it was Jinyoung’s turn to give an incredulous look.

“Good lord, no. I might have escaped it once but I won’t try my luck again.”

“Damn right you shouldn’t.”

As it turns out, Jinyoung’s luck is downright non-existent.

Just as he rounds the corner to his apartment building, he comes face to snout with a wolf.

_Great. Jackson will have a field day if he knows about this._

On hindsight, maybe he had every opportunity to avoid this.

He could have taken the shortcut home, if there were any in the first place? He wouldn’t know. He is a man of routine, and rarely diverts from familiarity.

Familiarity like the need for brushing his teeth in the shower _(“Why do you care seun-ah, these are my teeth and my shower. Shut up and get out of the toilet!”)_ and folding his briefs into tiny triangles _(“They’re easier to retrieve from the drawer like this. S-stop laughing at me!”)_

Or maybe, just stop taking the closing shifts altogether. In the past, the only thing he had to worry about was being caught falling asleep with his mouth wide open on the convenience store cctv.

Now, a wolf gets bumped to the top of his concerns.

An intense earthy smell envelops Jinyoung almost immediately. While he usually welcomes this eerily familiar scent of walking on the muddy grass after rain, it does not bode well with the sudden buzzing in his ear. Being this close to the wolf, he has to crane his neck at a weird angle to meet its eyes. _Wait, why the fuck did he want to look at the wolf’s eyes!?_

The eye contact, however, allows Jinyoung to see its eyes shift from yellow sharp slits to black shiny pupils in a span of seconds.

He winces when the buzzing in his ear intensifies, his fingers desperately pinching his temples in a bid to stop the noise. The world spins around him then, figures beginning to meld into a messy, almost artistic, blend of colours. He vaguely registers softness under his fingertips as he surrenders to the pitch black of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh cliffhangers!!!! 
> 
> let me know what you think about the update anyway hehe talk to me @halkoya at twitter :>


	3. Chapter 3

Black.

No matter where he turns, that’s all he sees. There is a niggling thought at the back of his mind – that this is out of the ordinary and that he should be panicking.

But he brushes it aside.

For someone who religiously has vivid dreams, he can chalk it up to a rare dreamless sleep where he is apparently semi-conscious. Yea, not unusual at all.

Then, he hears the sounds.

Without the darkness, he knows he would have missed the initial soft padded _thump thump thump_ that seems to circle around him continuously. The low thumps reverberate in his chest, where it strikes him straight in his heart before it spreads outwards, rumbling louder and harder as it reaches more of his body.

He feels a lazy drag along his legs. Dense, yet not heavy. Silky, yet not smooth. Long and flexible, yet not malleable. It swishes, swashes then slithers around effortlessly and weightlessly. It begins to wind itself around his calves and up to his thighs, where he feels the end flick at his hip.

The murmurs that caress his skin provide the promise of belonging. They pull at his fingers, inviting him to dance into their embrace. Light and carefree, he follows the soft hums that trails around his head, calming the dull buzzing in his head.

Then, just as quickly as it had all started, he finds himself grappling at nothing.

He falls. If you ask him how, he doesn’t know what to tell you. Hell, he’s not sure if he could tell you. Each time he tries to open his mouth to scream, he feels suffocated by the shadows. His feet are flailing wildly in his desperate attempts to find purchase of solid ground. He doesn’t know which way is up and somehow, the black surrounding him spins and twirls. He tumbles and bumps into the darkness, yet never feeling pain.

The only thing he feels is panic now.

He tries to hold in the bile threatening to climb up his guts. He has taken a few shaky breaths to calm his stomach, because his churning and clenching insides are making it impossible for him to think. Not that it is easy to do when you’re falling into nothing and everything at the same time, but he tries his best. Even if his best is gulping greedy mouthful of breaths, he’ll take it. Once he is sure that his dinner will not resurface in an unneeded liquid-solid form, he takes a deep breath and opens his eyes.

Black.

Jinyoung blinks his eyes several times, impatient to chase the darkness from his sight. But the dark doesn’t shift. It stubbornly sticks to him like silly strings sprayed from that stupid, stupid canister. A memory from high school wriggles its way to the forefront of his brain, incessantly hammering and trying to relive the horrible neon _tripwires_ all over again.

He has since banned Mark and Youngjae from his life, but somehow they keep finding ways to barge past his front door and back into his life.

He shudders at that thought. The one time he tried to teach them a lesson about opening doors without permission, they had been making out on the couch. Jinyoung had stood frozen at their doorway, hand still gripping the doorknob.

The Incident – as everyone (but not Jinyoung) fondly refers to it, is a classic storytelling opportunity that Jackson utilises for any new souls who dare venture into their group.

“It was only after standing there for a solid five minutes that he realises that no, they’re not making out. Oh, it was something much better - they were making love! Who knew Jinyoung likes to watch!” Jackson will hoot to the group like clockwork, always delighted at the peals and barks of laughter erupting around them.

No matter how many times he has heard the incident recounted in its many exaggerated forms, Jinyoung still has to will the red away from his face, neck and ears each time. It is not his fault that the image of Mark putty under Youngjae’s hands (and dick) always plasters itself to his eyeballs during these storytellings.

However, he is still sober and stubborn enough to refute that he _had been loud enough when opening the door to have made his presence known, so fuck the both of you for not hearing it._

He winces when he hears himself. No wonder Youngjae always doubles over laughing at his expense. He is personally handing Mark the baton to tease him.

“Thanks for the offer, but I already have Youngjae to do that for me. Maybe next time.” Mark winks, much to Jinyoung’s horror.

The night always ends with everyone laughing at his weak attempts to salvage the situation before he scowls and skulks off.

Frustrated at the memories (not so much the memories themselves, but how _stupid_ he acts in them), he pushes his hair back and half-heartedly makes a mental note to do something about his hair.

Although his eyelids are still heavy with god knows what he was doing the night before – each time he strains to recall and he thinks he might be close to recollecting his thoughts, the smudge becomes bigger and the fog around the words and pictures in his brain gathers again, more dense after each attempt – he knows that sleeping is out of the question now.

He vaguely remembers making plans with the boys to have lunch together. To anyone outside of their little clique, lunch might seem like a one-hour, two-hours tops, kind of plan.

With them however, lunch usually leads to coffee and coffee always leads to renewed vigour and better memory evidently, which means that they will be stuck at some coffee shop talking about the people they met (Jackson), a new playdate for their pet (Youngjae and Mark) and possibly a few rounds of convincing them about organic food (Jackson, again) for hours.

He rubs his face mercilessly, desperate to chase the lethargy away.

_It’s going to be a long day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, i thought i’ll update this before i go off and get married!! 
> 
> as always, please let me know how i can improve my writing here or at twitter @halkoya :>


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i already had both chapter 3 and 4 in my drafts so i guess, here you go! don’t get too excited about the fast update though, it probably won’t happen again lol

“What do you mean I can’t just go over and sit on his lap?”

“Jackson, for the last time. You can’t do that to a _stranger_. They could sue you for harassment or something.”

Jinyoung pinches the top of his nose bridge several times. Maybe all those headaches that he had been getting were caused by the same person who has been desperately trying to give him a heart attack for the past hour or so.

“Why!? Mark does it to Youngjae all the time!” Jackson gestures wildly at the two sitting in front of them, widening his eyes as he continues to jab the air repeatedly – as if his point will become valid the harder and faster he jabs.

“Strangers. Do you know what that word means or should I grab a dictionary?”

“I can just search online.” Jackson folds his arms, petulant. Any other time, Jinyoung can easily imagine downturned ears and a sad wag in his tail to accompany his kicked expression. But right now, with the way he is summoning Jinyoung’s headache back with all the whining, he just wants to kick him for real.

“It’s not for you. The dictionary is for me to throw it at you. Maybe that will knock some sense into you.”

It is when Youngjae giggles into Mark’s neck, that Jinyoung tears his attention away from Jackson – who is still trying to justify himself.

Jinyoung’s eyes flits from Youngjae’s arm casually slung across Mark’s body to the younger’s fingers playfully tugging on the other’s ear and then up to the smile permanently stuck on the older’s lips each time Youngjae glances his way. He is also painfully aware of how close they are seated next to each other, especially now that Mark is trying to push their foreheads together in an attempt to breathe into each other’s mouth? Or something.

 _God_ , he misses that closeness though. He wishes the town was just a little bit bigger. He flinches a little at that thought – not that the town is lacking in good-looking people, oh no. Jinyoung just wants to see a new set of good-looking people and perhaps squeeze in another round of dating. Sometimes, he wishes he was in a game simulation so that he can create more people and make them appear instantly in his neighbourhood.

With a start, he realises that the town _is_ getting bigger soon.

It is with that realisation, that he remembers with startling clarity what happened the night before.

Jinyoung stares at his bed.

_How did he get home last night?_

Jinyoung is good at prioritising.

That is why he dived straight into work and picked up more shifts at the convenience store – but no, not the closing shifts please. _I want to reset my body clock_ , he lies to the manager. But the little old man doesn’t seem to mind, only glad that he has an extra pair of young, energetic hands now to mend the store during peak hours instead.

“Knock, knock!” Youngjae chirps as he walks in, with Mark trailing in behind him no doubt.

“You know, normal people actually knock on the door before coming in.” Jinyoung huffs, but he knows it falls on deaf ears. He tries each time, nonetheless. He continues slicing the meat in his hands. At least nothing in the kitchen will argue or talk back to him.

“I still can’t get used to actually seeing you alive in the morning.” Mark quips from the couch, arm thrown lazily around Youngjae while he clicks the remote repeatedly.

“Well, with how often you guys are mooching food from me now, I would like to beg to differ.”

Jinyoung doesn’t mention that he enjoys their company. They don’t have to know that. They have too much power over him, as it is.

It is only after Youngjae and Mark had retreated back into their apartment, that Jinyoung feels the heavy weight of his loneliness again. He sighs wearily, rubbing his eyes while his mind traitorously plays the little clip of Jackson screaming _stop doing that you’re ruining your eyes do you want your eyesight to worsen!!_ Pfft, hello kettle? This is pot – you’re black.

He walks over to the little balcony – not his most favourite place to relax in because of the pesky neighbours from above who always drop their cigarette butts onto his balcony – but the breeze and the view makes it worthwhile.

 _Maybe_ , he dimly thinks as he hears and smells the telltale signs of an impending smoke break.

Jinyoung leans over the railings, eyes taking in everything and nothing at the same time. He has always enjoyed the night time, everything bathed in the moonlight. He thinks there is nothing prettier than this. Feeling the tension slowly ebb away, he is just lazily gazing at the people strolling by when he notices a strange person in the alley from across the street.

He could have described him as creepy for being naked and asleep, but it seems that the guy is motionless the longer he stares at him. Since he is only on the second floor of the building though, he notices small movements in his chest (because god forbid he looks elsewhere) but they are shallow.

He feels his heart drop into his stomach and he almost lurches forward at the dry heave. He quickly grabs the blanket he has tucked at the corner of the couch for movie nights and runs out of his apartment.

It is only when he is looking down at the alley guy, that Jinyoung realises he had just ran out with his pyjamas and bare feet. _Well, shit._

He pushes the chiding in his head aside and quickly wraps the guy with the blanket. As he struggles to lift him, alley guy groans and mumbles.

“What was that? On second thought, never mind. Let’s get you inside.” Jinyoung grunts as he finally manages to prop him over his shoulder. He squints his eyes at the distance he needs to cover. With a roll of his shoulders (as best as he could with alley guy burrito on one of it), he storms ahead. Alright, he’s a man. He can easily manage the ten feet walk to his apartment. No problem.

He has a problem.

In his haste to run out, he forgot his keys.

He stares at his apartment door, willing for some deity above to take pity on him and miraculously open it for him. He closes his eyes and prays a little harder, promising to take better care of himself.

He peeks one eye open.

Still no opened door.

He squeezes his eyes shut.

_I’ll take care of my friends as well. With no complains._

Peeking through his hands now and –

Still the same wooden door in front of him.

_I’ll donate to charity! Maybe volunteer at the cat shelter?_

Jinyoung strains his head upwards, placing more effort in directing his prayers to the clouds above in hopes that a deity will greet his desperate ass.

The only thing that greets him is the silence.

Resigned to his fate, he trudges down the hallway and knocks on the door.

When it swings open several _decades_ later, he is met with one “What the heck, Jinyoung?” and another “Why are you up so late at – two in the morning? And panting? Oh oh oh! Please tell me you brought a guy home and need condoms, because for someone who is _always prepared_ , you sure didn’t prepare to get your ass mpfpf –“

Mark has his hand clasped over Youngjae’s mouth, but that doesn’t stop the younger from trying to continue talking.

Jinyoung rubs the back of his neck. _Oh boy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and there you go! jinyoung finally meets human!jb (even though he doesn’t know it yet hehe) originally, this story was supposed to only be three chapters max, but whew, jinyoung and jb just refuse to make my life easy huh. 
> 
> anyway i have a rough outline of how the story will proceed from here on, but i would love to hear how you think it should continue. talk to me? :3
> 
> and with that being said, this should be the last update until feb/march so i hope the double update will help to tide you guys over for a while! i’m so excited to get married to the love of my life hehe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, i'm back earlier than i anticipated hehe /waves

“So you just plucked this guy from the streets and now what? Are you planning to let him stay here?” 

Jinyoung has successfully avoided their pesky questions earlier by delegating tasks to the couple – Youngjae to watch over alley guy and Mark to retrieve the spare key to his apartment.

Now that they have already entered his apartment, Jinyoung continues to busy himself with alley guy. He gently places him on the couch and only manages to bristle slightly when Youngjae jibes, “What if he’s a serial killer?”

“He’s not a serial killer!” Jinyoung feels responsible to maintain the guy’s reputation. _And dignity_ , he thinks as he walks into his room and starts rummaging through his wardrobe.

“How would you know that?” 

Mark has apparently found the question pertinent enough to warrant following him into his bedroom, yet not lending a hand to pick out some decent clothes for his guest. He has the cheek to cross his arms and lean against the doorway, eyebrows quirked upwards as a silent question – _what the heck are you doing?_

Youngjae appears next to him, with his hands perched delicately on his hips.

“Yea Jinyoung, what kind of sane person sleeps naked on the streets. Maybe he’s loony.”

“A sane person who needs help. Maybe he was robbed and knocked unconscious. Look, do you want to help me or not?”

“Nope.”

Jinyoung makes sure to show his appreciation with the single finger directed at them both.

With Youngjae guffawing his way out of the apartment door, it is a miracle that the guy did not stir awake.

It slips Jinyoung’s mind that he is not alone in his apartment this morning.

Slightly confused as to why he was sleeping on the couch, he absent-mindedly strolls into his bedroom. His legs almost give way when he realises that his bed is not empty. He quickly racks his brain for any self-defence techniques that he had previously glanced through online.

Or, had he somehow managed to climb into someone else’s apartment last night? His now wide eyes scan the room – belatedly sighing in relief when he spots familiar decorations and photographs.

That’s when he smells _him_.

The same earthy smell that had accompanied the wolf during his last encounter with it, right before he had passed out and then miraculously woke up in his bed.

Jinyoung’s eyes slowly trail back to the bed, where they land upon alley guy who is already sitting up and staring wide-eyed at him.

“What are you?” Jinyoung blurts out, unable to stand the silence.

He watches as the guy _(or wolf?)_ tries to recover from his initial shock at being spoken to. The stranger’s face contorts in various ways, as he struggles to keep his emotions in check. All while opening and closing his mouth several times, seemingly unable to form proper sentences.

Finally, he sighs and lowers his head slightly as he mumbles “Please don’t freak out.”

Before Jinyoung can react, the guy lifts his head and stares at him with his sharp yellow eyes slanted into slits.

_Wait._

“W-what? How did you d-do that… your eyes?”

“You know how Jinyoung.”

After several minutes of screaming, running, persuading and explaining, Jinyoung learns that the guy that he had rescued last night is a wolf. Oh, and he goes by the name Jaebeom.

“…um, thanks again for bringing me back to your apartment.” Jaebeom rubs his nape sheepishly, his feet shuffling side to side as Jinyoung finally closes the door after explaining to his upstairs nosy neighbour that _yes, he is fine sorry for worrying you with all that shrieking and no, the huge rat is already gone thank you so much for your offer to catch it_.

“It’s no problem at all. Anyway, why were you passed out?”

“Oh, I was hungry.”

“Huh. Why don’t you just look for some small animals in the forest?”

Oh. He realises the problem now.

“That’s why I keep bumping into you lately. Your home is gone.”

Jaebeom looks out the window wistfully and mumbles a sad _yea_.

Jinyoung feels bad. Although the decision to demolish the forest was not entirely in his control, he still feels responsible for Jaebeom’s loss.

That’s how he finds himself in the kitchen, apron slung over his head and ribbon tied carefully around his waist.

A quiet sniffle from the living room.

“I like meat.”

Jinyoung rolls his eyes. Of course the wolf likes meat. He opens the refrigerator and moves to grab a packet of it when he stills. He looks back at the living room, where he spots Jaebeom wandering around.

His sunken cheeks and skinny limbs tug pitifully at his heart. 

He grabs all of the meat that he can find and plonks them on the counter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jinyoung baby, you don't know this yet but you'll have a soft spot for jaebeom <:
> 
> not too happy with how this chapter turned out, but i really wanted to get it out of my system because it had been bugging me. 
> 
> anyway, this is a short update for now! the last two chapters will be longer and might also take longer to be posted ooops but fret not, a part of the last chapter has already been finalised yay
> 
> i've taken a slight hiatus on twitter but i promise if you want to talk to me about the fic (or anything really) i'll definitely respond!! talk to me @halkoya


	6. Chapter 6

It doesn’t _really_ dawn on Jinyoung that he has an extra mouth to feed now, until he opens the fridge one day to be greeted by a cold gust of air blowing in his face. Instead of the usual array of leftovers, he is looking at an empty fridge – seemingly resembling how it looked like on the first day that he had bought it. No matter how hard he squints, there are no traces of food at all. Not even those brown ringlets of weird goo that mysteriously appeared at the bottom of the drinks compartment and stubbornly remained there despite several attempts to clean it.

He leans backwards and spares a furtive glance towards the broad figure hunched over the remote control in his living room. He sees the thin line of drool connecting Jaebeom’s mouth to the coffee table. _Gross._

“Hey, I’m ordering food. You want anything?”

Jaebeom whips his head so fast, he actually sees the drool snap and swing towards him. Jinyoung almost ducks his head in fear of the drool touching him, but Jaebeom is faster. He quickly slurps the saliva back into his mouth and uses the back of his hand to wipe any remnants of it. _Again, gross._

“You call yourself a clean freak but you’re drooling all over the place.” Jinyoung deadpans. Jaebeom has the decency to look offended as he places his hand over his heart.

“I can’t help it that my wolf side is gross, okay!”

Jinyoung waves his hand in the air, as if he could physically sweep his whines away. He doesn’t see Jaebeom jumping and leaping towards him from across the room, until it’s too late. When he opens his eyes, he is already looking up at a cheeky lopsided grin and another dangerous line of drool from the corner of said grin. Jinyoung’s eyes widens and he shouts a hasty “Don’t you dare!” before he thrashes around in his hold.

It is only when Jinyoung accidentally kicks Jaebeom in his groin that he stops flailing and crouches over the other. With a comforting hand on his back and a snigger lingering in between his words, Jinyoung tries to assure him that _you’ll be fine_.

He hears a muffled _shut up_ as he comes trotting back with the cold compress.

Jaebeom’s attempt to kick at him is cute though, what with the ice pack pressing against the front of his pants and each time he shifts, he interrupts himself to shiver and whine about the cold.

“The ice is not helping!” Jaebeom whines for the hundredth time.

“Well, you deserved it for tackling me.”

“You.”

In Jinyoung’s peripheral vision, he sees a stubby finger pointed towards him. He smirks, points to himself and bleats out “Me.”

Jaebeom sputtering at his indifference is amusing and he delights in his ability to tease the older so easily.

“You’re responsible for my suffering. Do something!”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, anything! Kiss it better!”

Jinyoung almost chokes on his own saliva. Almost, but he does cough a few times anyway, if only to disrupt the tense silence which followed after the mindless remark. He slowly lifts his eyes to meet the older, and he feels slightly better to see that Jaebeom’s eyes have widened comically and his face is flushed red as well.

“I-I mean, give me a beer to drown this pain! You know what, it’s fine. I’ll take it myself.” Jaebeom pushes himself off the couch and stumbles to the kitchen, cursing at the _stupid uneven floors we should do something about it seriously_.

Jinyoung does not have the heart to remind him that the fridge is empty.

The day that Jinyoung merely suggested to Jaebeom that he should start working together with him, was the day that he realised how soft-hearted Jaebeom really is. Despite his threatening stature, he manages to curl up to squeeze himself at the corner of the couch and whimpers.

“You’ll be fine. Nobody will know you’re a wolf.” Jinyoung has been trying to reason with him for close to an hour now. His patience is running thin, and so is the skin on Jaebeom’s finger as he keeps picking at it.

“What if your boss doesn’t like me?”

A stricken wail bounces off the walls and straight into Jinyoung’s ears. 

Jinyoung hears a long sigh after and belatedly realises it was from him. Through all the wailing and whining, he swipes the lock across his phone and punches in the search bar _– How to get a wolf to stop crying and start working?_ Despite all the times that the internet has previously saved him during a crisis like _how to open a stuck kimchi jar_ , he reasons that the question is too out of this world and that’s why he sees funky websites suggesting to _‘whisper sweet nothings into your wolf’s ear and see her begin to blossom under you’_.

Jinyoung side-eyes the other on the couch and blushes heavily when he makes eye contact with him. He feels the redness creeping into his cheeks and all the way to the tips of his ears as well. Nope, he definitely will not be doing any whispering into anybody’s ear anytime soon – wolf or not.

But he does end up petting the older’s head to pacify him before lulling him to sleep with the promise of a meaty treat.

“My, my Jinyoung. Where have you been hiding him all this while?”

Jinyoung almost drops the carton of eggs that he was packing as he hears the old lady address him from across the counter. Customers rarely spoke more than three words to him; mostly the friendly ones asking “How’s your day?”

Ever since Jaebeom had started working at the convenience store though, there is always someone who needs to walk up to the counter to ask a question or two. They had also been experiencing a sudden influx of customers – of all ages, genders and personalities. He shudders at the memory of the overenthusiastic ones who kept rambling about their personal lives, seemingly hell-bent in talking their ears off. Lunch time was one of the worst, what with the hormonal giggly schoolgirls flipping their hair everywhere and the office ladies caressing his biceps as they comment on how strong he looks.

But, nothing beats the wrath of an elderly who thinks that making small talk will increase the chances of matchmaking Jaebeom with _my pretty little granddaughter who will make an excellent housewife_.

Like now, he can almost sense the pure elation emitting from the old lady as Jaebeom’s eyes turn into tiny crescents and his lips pull back to reveal two perfect rows of white teeth as he responds to her invasive questions.

“Oh my, you’re 25? My darling Jimin is 22 and you know what they say about a three-year age difference? A match made in heaven!” The old lady claps her hands as she responds to her own question. Jinyoung cannot help but to roll his eyes as he hears another ridiculous quip about how they are _meant for each other_ and watches as the old lady’s hands linger for longer than needed on top of Jaebeom’s as he hands her bag of groceries over.

“Are you jealous?”

Jinyoung scoffs at the older as he squats down behind the counter. The steady stream of _after work hours_ customers had finally dwindled down to an empty store. He hits the sides of his thighs repeatedly, trying to relief the ache from standing throughout the shift – one of the downsides of working the cashier.

“Jealous? Hah. The only time I’m jealous of you is when you effortlessly tear open the meat packaging. Speaking of which, by the way, the boss is getting a little suspicious of the frequency of you _dropping_ the meat products and labelling it as waste during stock checks.” The _bok bok bok_ of his hits are accompanied by the whirring from the fridges, making Jinyoung’s words sound more petulant than he had intended.

“Hey. We don’t want to be getting a reputation of selling spoilt products, do we? And anyway, that’s not what I meant. Are you jealous of them?”

“Jealous of… W-what?”

“I saw you glaring at them. Was it because I was paying too much attention to them and not to you?”

“W-what?”

The jingling of bells redirects Jinyoung’s attention towards the main entrance of the convenience store and effectively halts their conversation. He wishes it will stop the thoughts running amok in his mind too.

Ever since he unknowingly acquired a roommate (and a pet on some days), he has been swamped with the overwhelming need to curl up in bed and hide under his blankets, just so he has some peace and quiet.

Not that he does not enjoy Jaebeom’s company. 

Of course not.

Jaebeom is a sweetheart.

On most days.

But he has spent most of his life being alone, what with being the only child and all.

So, suddenly having someone around all the time can be quite exhausting, having to socialise and smile and talk and laugh at jokes. Although there was that one joke that made Jaebeom laugh his hearty guffaw and it made him smile throughout the day because screw Jackson and his _you’re not funny_ quips. But yes, Jinyoung just needs some downtime to himself; just him and his books. Oh, maybe Jaebeom will loan him that new book he was reading, what was it called again-

“What’re you cooking?”

“Jesus!” Jinyoung claps his hand over his chest, heart racing a mile a minute. Cursing internally, he had almost slapped the other person across the face. Fortunately, his brain managed to put name to face quickly and he stopped just in time.

“Nope, only Mark.”

“What the fu- What are you doing here?!”

“Oh, Youngjae and I are hungry.”

“Jesus, now I have four mouths to feed? What, am I your caregiver?”

“I bet Jaebeom wants to term it differently.”

“W-what?”

“Oh hey, you got a new shelf!”

“Oh yea, Jaebeom likes to read books too, so we decided to get a bigger shelf for them.”

“Hmmm.”

Jinyoung was not expecting that hum and side eye directed towards him. Come to think of it, he was also not expecting company right now so what the hell.

“You know, you’ve been awfully close to him lately.”

“Jaebeom? Of course. He’s my roommate now. I see him all the time. It’s inevitable that we became close.”

“ _Inevitable that we became close._ Yea right, so tell me again what happened to Bam Bam?”

“Ugh, get that name out of your mouth. If I see another flamboyant designer pants again, I will not hesitate to rip one apart.”

“What about Yugyeom?”

“That helmet head? Are you seriously telling me that you will willingly let that dweeb stay here after you caught him snooping around my things?”

“Okay. Woohyun?”

“He was a creep, who had all those pictures of girls on his wall.”

“Taecyeon?”

“Fitness buff, too many dumbbells and _let’s go gymming together!!!_ Ew.”

“Nichkhun.”

“Too nice.”

“What?”

“What.”

Mark’s exasperated sigh burned Jinyoung’s cheeks, making them flare a bright red. He touches his ears out of habit, feeling the tips run warm as expected. He does not hear Mark mumble _these idiots_ as he walks out the door.

Jinyoung is just glad that he ended up not having to cook for those two tonight.

When he passes by the new black shelf, he can’t help the soft smile lingering on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve been having the hardest of time to write the last two chapters ugh anyway as always, i would love to hear your thoughts about this @halkoya


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